Wanderings: 榕樹頭 (Yung Shue Tau)

Temple street (廟街) in Yau Ma Tei is well-known to tourists, but thankfully hasn't been overwhelmed by their visits, managing to retain a strong local presence and character. It resembles Tung Choi Street/Ladies' Street in Mong Kok; except Temple Street is also known as Men's Street. Which isn't to say that the merchandise of these street markets are limited by its gendered name. Ladies' Street does have a mountain of handbags (no guarantees on the authenticity of such goods. I must say that they aren't as blatant with their knockoffs now as they were then), but also offers fruit, electronic items, cell phone accessories, beach towels, stuffed animals, etc. And while Temple Street focuses more on male clothing, you'll still find stalls that sells pretty much everything in between. The enterprising mind won't be limited by geography...

Another notable difference between Ladies' Street and Temple Street is that the latter area provides a gathering ground for many of the city's elderly. Particularly Yung Shue Tau (榕樹頭), a public square at the heart of Temple Street, named for the banian (banyan) fig trees situated within. During the day it is frequented by ah baks sitting together for a conversation or a game of chess. In the evenings, the fortune tellers and other vendors emerge to cater to a bigger, and more diverse, crowd. Unlike the rest of Temple Street, it provides a stage for Cantonese Opera street shows, and live singers...(funnily enough, live singers are also taking to the streets on Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok, just next to Ladies' Street/Tung Choi Street. Another parallel between the Ladies' and Men Streets?)

Judging from the Tin Hau temple there (the namesake of Temple Street), you can discern that the Yung Shue Tau area has a fishing-based heritage. The area has a long history, probably back when the Qing dynasty was still in control of China. I'll guess that the boundaries of this public square wasn't as well defined back then as it is today; the major roads (Shanghai Street, Public Square Street, etc.) currently surrounding the square didn't emerge until the mid-to-late 20th century, and now limits the possibility for spatial expansion. Photos below, with some lengthily captions: 

Old people socializing; who needs facebook when you can talk face-to-face? (And no, facetime does not count)

Tin Hau temple, actually a huge complex of other temples including a now-defunct Hsu Yuen (translates as 'study hall'. These are the predecessor to the current schools in Hong Kong. Once there was an established education system in the late 1800s, they were rendered obsolete. This one is currently a place for fortune tellers to set up their stalls.) They were constructed by local fishermen in 1865, and was finally relocated to their current site at 1876. Asides from the Tin Hau temple in this photo, there is also Shea Tan, Fook Tak Tze, and Shing Wong. More details of the latter in the next photo.

Surprisingly enough, few people realize that this temple is different from the Tin Hau temple next to it. The 城隍廟 (Chenghuang Temple/ Shing Wong Temple; differences in romanization depends on the area where these temples are found.The former was used in Shanghai, the latter in Hong Kong) roughly translates to 'City God Temple' and is fairly prevalent in most major cities that have a strong following of Chinese folk spiritual beliefs. The 城隍, or City God, is a class of deities in Chinese mythology that offer protection over the city (protection ranging from personal to communal concerns...and all kinds of disasters such as drought.) It is not to be confused with the more localized and familiar 土地公, which in itself is a huge topic, better explored in a later post...

The establishment date of the first Shing Wong temple is a bit confused; wikipedia says 1877 and locates it at Shau Kei Wan on Hong Kong Island, the Tung Wah Group (a charitable group in charge of managing some temples in Hong Kong) credits the 榕樹頭 temple of Yau Ma Tei for 1865. Either way, it is interesting to note that both dates are after the city has been colonized. Before the British arrived in 1841, most major Chinese cities had their own City God. Except for Hong Kong, since the place could hardly be considered a city at the time... 

Buildings spotted around the area; this corner house is an old fashioned restaurant, famous for its retro fittings

More old buildings, love how they are so colourful. Hong Kong is home to a multitude of buildings in shades of pink, purple, green...all colours of the rainbow (and Choi Hung Estate in Kowloon really does have a rainbow palette...since 'Choi Hung' translates to rainbow.) 

One entrance to Temple Street, just before the stalls open for the day. I'm pretty sure this is a new fixture, though the reasons for installing it here (or now) remains unknown. Is it akin to those efforts one sees in the Chinatowns of Sydney and London that try to make these areas more 'Asian', to appeal to the tourist mindset? (And is it ironic that with this 'gate' in place, that it reminds me more of Chinatowns in overseas locales, than it does of any other place in Hong Kong?)

Trivia! You won't find the area by typing its name into googlemaps (the closest it'll take you is to Ngau Tau, off Lamma Island.) Yung Shue Tau is a name used amongst locals, so if you ask around they will know how to give directions there. You can also find it where Shanghai Street intersects with Public Square Street. 


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The street is the favourite seedy place of our imaginations in Hong Kong. Some of us were told not to venture to Temple Street alone during our childhoods, which fuelled the perception of dodgy happenings in that area. (It isn't as though Ladies' Street is crime-free, but it just feels as though the crimes committed there lack the gravity of those at Temple Street. Maybe Ladies' Streets seems more 'open' and 'approachable' because it is better connected to the main transport links...) The rumours about gang extortion of money from Temple Street vendors didn't help (hey, even Hong Kong films made Temple Street look like the romping grounds for gangs), nor did the evenings news a couple of years back featuring the street as the site of an acid attack 'from the sky' (someone threw a jar of acid from one of the many high rise flats in the area.) Sex toy stalls made the area look almost like the red-light district of Amsterdam, albeit the Hong Kong version looking more disorderly (and without the overt displays by prostitutes.) And then several months ago, during a dinner conversation, I overheard a story about these sex toys being sold-then-resold to unwary customers...without being cleaned in between transactions. Probably a fabrication, but this is the stuff urban myths are made of. 

Neighbourhood: Sheung Wan

Sheung Wan is an established hipster-hood in Hong Kong, covered by many publications and blog posts. Not only will you find the antiques market and temples (that hipsters love for its cultural allusions, and tourists love for the photo ops) Sheung Wan is home to many independent small-scale shops. You have your art galleries, design studios and offices, and cafes meant for hours of deep contemplation and scribbling away on Moleskine notebooks. The area also has one of my favourite places; The Coming Society on the first floor of 222 Queens Road Central, offering a good selection of Chinese and English second-hand books (and unlike some fussy chain bookshops like Page One, you're allowed to sit in a wingchair and read the books without the obligation to buy!) It is thanks to these small shops that help give a youthful and hip vibe to the area.

That being said, the entire area of Sheung Wan isn't all hip. Close to the main thoroughfares are the department stores of Wing On and Sincere, there lurks Starbucks and other major chain shops found throughout the rest of Hong Kong, and there are rows of shiny business offices providing an air-conditioned sanctuary of power-suit people. (Not to mention that the Beijing Liaison Office is a little more to the west of Sheung Wan, which could knock all the points off the hipster-scale for any area. But the Office is almost out of Sheung Wan and in Sai Wan, so the area's repute can still be salvaged...) Yet it is precisely the existence of these buildings that serve to offset the parts of Sheung Wan that are different and 'hip', allowing one to be even more appreciative of their presence.

This hipness radiates from the epicentre of Tai Ping Shan street. (If you are unhip and require the patronage of the huge MTR corporation to shuttle you to Sheung Wan, it is a bit of an uphill walk to get there. Not unreachable, but still sweat inducing. For an 'easier' time, get off the MTR at Central station, walk to the SoHo escalators, take it up until Hollywood Road, and head westwards to Sheung Wan. Shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.)  I'll leave my personal thoughts on this area (and hipster hubs in general) for the next post. For now, some snaps of the street and its surrounding areas:

Read: 推土機前種花

Yesterday was hot, yesterday was full of sunshine, yesterday was a sweat-fest. And finding myself in the area of Yau Ma Tei didn't help (urban heat island effect! Geography 101.) Thankfully Kubrick was nearby, providing air-con, a cafe with plenty of nice beverages, and a bookshop. Needless to say, where there are books, my wallet opens. 

So say hello to 推土機前種花 by 周綺薇 (Maggie Chow.) The book revolves around the neighbourhood of Sham Shui Po, with the introduction taking the reader back to a 2007 meeting at the Sham Shui Po District Council between government representatives and the residents affected by a 2004 government initiative to redevelop the area. The meeting degenerated into confrontation when the government accused the residents of 'illegally using government property'. Further exchanges between government workers and the affected locals resulted with the questions of the latter being met with obtuse non-answers and threats of police action from the former. Nothing shockingly novel about that scenario, since it is a widespread problem in current Hong Kong and is often reported in the media. 

But by introducing Sham Shui Po to the reader through the context of a conflict allows us to see that it is precisely these conflicts that emphasize, and render visible, the strong community ties that exist. The structure of the book is divided into six sections titled; the district and I; following the path of the neighbourhood locals; telling our story; love letter to the community; the flower gives fruit, the flattened land; and Postscript. 

The first section examines the nature of a neighbourhood, and the author makes such a narrative coherent by weaving her own background and experiences into the text. Instead of presenting her Sham Shui Po neighbours as 'faceless entities', she includes the names and backgrounds of those in her building, and show the linkages between them. By 'linkages', it refers to how they are situated within the physical space (e.g. Old Man 雷 lives in the flat under Uncle 李, Old Man and Old Lady 高 lives upstairs from the author on the fourth floor, etc.); or their role in the community (e.g. Old Man 雷 uses his medical training from his youth to give advice to neighbours, Mr. and Mrs. 馮 run a stationary shop that serves as a centre for news to spread around the locals, Limbu is from Nepal and runs a little corner store.) The best thing about these character introductions is that they are highly personalized, containing the little mundane details that are important to the author herself. 

The other sections takes the reader away from the seeming timelessness of the author's immediate social surroundings, and back to the the problematic world outside. The text then provides a chronological description of the major events that happened, detailing the neighbourhood's progression from voicing their ideas out in public, refusing to play the role of the victims, envisioning their ideal Sham Shui Po through the help of a Dutch activist by the name of Elena, and more. The book does a good job documenting the different events and discussions that take place at different moments in time. One event of particular interest would be the 2007 'Story Telling Gala' on Hing Wah Street, where the author helped erect huge posters formatted to look like the shop fronts of local business owners. People were allowed to interact with the store keepers depicted in the posters, and to leave write comments to stick onto the images. Another event infused with humour includes creating a series of worksheets for Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor (Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning, and Lands in 2003/2004 and later the Secretary for Development) including lessons asking Lam to think about what it means for the government development office to put 'people' first (and who these 'people' are interpreted to be), what directions development should take, and the way of life in Hong Kong. 

Ultimately, the efforts of the residents did not stop the Urban Renewal Authorities from tearing down the affected areas, displacing the community and severing the complex network of ties that were there. But the author concludes the book on an optimistic note, as from this episode there sprang a new empowering consciousness within the local population, manifesting as The Sham Shui Po Renewal Concern Group. I for one, am curious to know 'what is next?' and to see what sort of strategies the Group will employ in the face of future government development.      Other questions include; what does the author see as 'ideal development'? In the author's view, what is the degree of effectiveness in the strategies used? And while there are lessons learnt by the local residents, what can the government take away from all of this? How does development practices in Hong Kong compare to those abroad, and is there a model from abroad to learn and copy from? The book manages to force the reader to look with a critical eye at the term '活化' , and to rethink what 'urban renewal' really means (to replace or to rejuvenate?) 

On an unrelated note, is it hard not to notice the plethora of lovely illustrations and photographs in the book, rendering it almost into a graphic novel. 

Book retails for 110HKD at Kubrick (99HKD for Kubrick members). It is 148 pages long, published by MCMM Creations in 2011. Mostly written in Chinese, with a few pages of English translation in the back (though I must say that the English does not fully cover everything mentioned in the Chinese sections.) 

Weekend: Yau Ma Tei (through Wooferten's Mobile Bar Battle)

Yau Ma Tei was originally a village, though the exact meaning of the name 'Yau Ma Tei', and the industry the name harkens from, is unknown. (Funnily enough, the MTR tried to name the station there as 'Waterloo', after Waterloo Road, when it first opened in the 1970s.) Urbanization made it almost unrecognisable from its historical image; it once had its own bay and beach, and now it is a part of a densely populated hub quite a ways from the water. You can tell how the coastline has shifted thanks to the aptly named Reclamation Street to the west. Following Wooferten during one of their weekend events was a good way to catch a glimpse of just how fascinating the area is. 

Wooferten (浩化廳) is one of my favourite places, calling itself as a community art space, something that is rather lacking in this city. And they do take 'community' seriously, welcoming neighbours to gather and sit in their space on Shanghai Street, and initiating outreach events to bring people together. 


Last weekend, Wooferten (alongside 素人之亂 from Japan, and with the help of Mr. J) hosted the Mobile Bar Battle , with the slogan of 'Hong Kong Never Drunk'. The purpose was to hand out free alcohol to the locals in the area, but instead of making them come to the art space to get it, the alcohol was brought to them. The event featured the locally-brewed Yau Ma Tei beer (see previous post), also providing a fair share of store-bought canned-beer, and miscellany alcohol that Mobile Bar Battle participants brought. As the visiting Japanese activist at Wooferten said, alcohol is a social lubricant, bringing people together. And true to his word, the turnout was awesome. 


Some photos to share: 

Wooferten at 404 Shanghai Street, just before setting out for the neighbourhood. It was hot, it was very sunny, it was sweat-inducing. But it was well worth going

Waving banners, pushing trolleys and carts of beer around. The planned route took us through a couple of blocks in the area

So adorable! But never fear, no minors were given alcohol. This little girl contented herself with Vita brand lemon tea and some roast pork from the cart

Walking past the corner houses (more details about these in a previous post) that are so common in the area. The great thing is that you can still see how 'lived-in' these buildings are

Couldn't resist photographing this wonderfully illustrated bag (reads 'this city is dying'), especially since it echoes the current sentiments of many young people in HK. 

Sharing the roast pork around. Couldn't grab a piece, since the young'uns and the elderly were given first dibs

Heading down the wet foods market on Nelson Street

Pouring alcohol to anyone (over 18!) who wanted it 

Cheers, matey! 

Ending the Mobile Bar Battle route at this local park. Live music, casual chats, a jovial atmosphere all around

Credit goes to Wooferten for their effort in providing the goods used in the Mobile Bar Battle

Overall, the event was well-received by people in the locality. There was the occasional person who overtly comments on how the Mobile Bar Battle group was 'being pointless' and 'doing something rubbish', but who cares? Local stall owners waved and sampled the alcohol, people in windows waved, and a lot of people were smiling as the group walked by. Patrolling policemen jokingly said they might try some when their shift ends. And the fun wasn't only experienced by the people we encountered, but the Mobile Bar Battle was also fun for those of us who tagged along.